A skateboard is a small piece of wood in the shape of a surfboard with predominantly four non-swivel wheels attached to it. A single person rides the skateboard, guiding and initiating movement by his feet. While some skateboards are useful as transportation over short distances, most skateboards are used to perform stunts.
Skateboards consist of three parts: the deck (the actual board), the truck (a component usually made of metal that holds the fixed wheels to the deck), and the wheels. The average skateboard deck is about 32 in (81.3 cm) long, 8 in (20.3 cm) wide, and is a little less than 0.5 in (1.3 cm) thick. The deck has a defined nose and tail end with a generally concave section in the middle. Skateboard wheels are usually made of polyurethane and range in width from about 1.3-1.5 in (3.3-3.8 cm). While nearly all skateboards have similar shapes and characteristics, their dimensions vary slightly based on use. There are skateboards built for speed, slalom, and freestyle.
Historical Background
Though there is unconfirmed evidence that a skateboard-like apparatus existed as early as 1904, the more commonly accepted predecessor to the skateboard was created in the 1930s. In Southern California, a skate-scooter was made out of fruit crates with wheels attached to the bottom. This evolved into an early skateboard that was made out of 2×4 ft. (61×121.9 cm) piece of wood and four fixed metal wheels taken from a scooter or from roller skates. This early version of the skateboard featured rigid axles and fixed wheels.
Recognizable skateboards were first manufactured in the late 1950s. These were still made of wood and a few were decorated with decals and artwork. Skateboards became especially popular among surfing enthusiasts, primarily in California. Surfers practiced on skateboards when the ocean was too rough, and they became known as “sidewalk surfers.”
There was a renewed interest in skateboards when wheels made of polyurethane were introduced. These early polyurethane wheels were composites of sand-like material that was formed into a flat and wide wheel with an adhesive binder under extreme pressure. With the advent of such polyurethane wheels, boards became easier to control and more stunts were possible.
Subsequently, skate parks were introduced. Skate parks were specially designed places that catered specifically to skateboarders. Popular interest in skateboarding increased due both to improvements in technical innovation and skateboarding videos which featured skateboarders performing extremely difficult and dangerous stunts using ramps, stairs, handrails and the like. New interest in the sport resulted. High-profile exposure like ESPN and MTV's X-Games and skateboard competition added increased interest in the sport. Televised events of “extreme sports” showed the best of many kinds of skateboarding. Skateboarding was regarded as the first extreme sport.
Skateboard technology has also continued to evolve. Skateboard manufacturers experimented with different thicknesses of veneers for the decks, but practically speaking, very little has changed in the actual manufacture components of skateboards until this invention.
Raw Materials
Most skateboard decks are made of glue and wood (usually maple), but some are made of composites, aluminum, nylon, Plexiglas, fiberglass, foam, and other artificial materials. Skateboard trucks are usually made of aluminum or other metal (steel, brass, or another alloy), though a few are made of nylon. These trucks, in all prior art skateboards, are fixedly mounted on a vertical post fastened or formed in the bottom of the board.
To assemble a skateboard, the maker also needs ball bearings (usually full precision and made of metal) and a sizable piece of grip tape. Grip tape comes in a sufficiently large piece—bigger than the deck—and looks like a piece of sandpaper. It is secured to the top of the deck, friction surface upward, to provide traction for the user's feet.